Improvement in knitting-machines



J. SIBSON.

KNITTING-MACHINE. No. 191,186. Patienten?. May 22,1877.

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To all whom itjmayhcoupem: f..

Be it known that ,5I J ofsEiH gSIBsoN. of. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,"have inventedy certain Improvements in Knitting-Machines, of which thefollowing is aA specification The object of my invention is toaccurately adjust the movement of the guide-bar in a knitting-frame bymeans of a pattern-chain and other mechanism of the peculiarconstruction fully described hereafter, the devices being such as toproduce a greater variety of patterns on the knitted fabric than can beattained by the aid of the ordinary patternwheel.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section,of my improved pattern-chain and mechanism connected therewith Fig. 2, aplan view of Fig. l, and Figs. 3 and 4 detached views of the chain.

The ordinary guide-bar of a knitting-frame is connected to the yoke A,so secured to the arm b of a lever, B, as to be adjustable thereon, themovement of the bar in one direction being determined by projecting ribson the links of the pattern-chain D, and in thefoppo site direction byany suitable spring' which will cause the roller aJ on the short arm bof the lever B to bear on the said vprojecting ribs of the chain.

It is important, in knitting fan-cy work on straight frames, that themovement of the guide-bar should admit of nice adjustment, and thatmovement should be free from all irregularities, such as would resultfrom the employment of the ordinary pattern-chains used in connectionwith Weaving-looms 5 hence I prefer to employ a chain of the charactershown in the drawing. l

All the links proper of the chain are pre-Y cisely alike, and are madeasshown in Fig. 3-

that is, each link has a slot, x, at one end for receiving theprojection y on the adjoining link, thereby forming with thecoupling-pin a rule-joint.

Each link is adapted to the periphery of a drum,H, and has a recess,f,adapted to teeth on the said drum, which may be operated from a workingpart ofthe knitting-frame, through the medium ofinechanism similar tothat used in connection with ordinary pattern-wheels.

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mi May 22,1-,irmf;{ appncatin niet g,whichbears on the surfaceof'fthedruin betweenfcthefteeth, and-'servesy to insure thegllirinfoundation for the link necessary to adapt the chain to the purpose ofimparting the delicate movements required by the guidebars of aknitting-machine.

Some ofthe links ofthe chain are plain, and others have projecting ribsl1., and the ribs of some of the links are more prominent than those ofothers; but Whatever may be the character of these ribs as regardsprominence, they areinvariably arranged as shown in Fig. i-that is tosay, each projecting rib is halved atand near each end,so as tobeadapted to the halved ends of adjoining links, and the halved portionsof the ribs bear the relation tothe joints of' the links shown by theradial dotted lines fw in Fig. l. By this mode of constructing thepattern-chain all such gaps in the chain as would impart an irregular ortremulons movement to the lever B are obviated.

The roller a being as Wide as, or wider than, the ribs, the action ot'the ribs on the links is as precise and determinate as the steps of asolid pattern-wheel.

As before remarked, the movement of the guide-bar of a knitting-frame,and especially of a frame for knitting fancy goods, must admit of beingaccurately adjusted.

For instance, the frame may be required to move at one time to theextent ol' live needles at each step of the pattern-chain, While anotherfabric may vdemand a lesser or greater movement. This adjustment, or, asI term it, the general adjustment, is readily accomplished by a changein the position ot' the yoke A onl the long. arm b of the lever B; butwhen the general adjustment has been made, there is a danger ot' thefeed-bar overreaching or underreaching the proper termini of itsmovements, the result of which would be a defective fabric; hence thereshould be means of a nicer adjustment than that attained by altering theposition of the yoke. This secondary and firm adjustment is effected inthe following manner: The standards M, to which the shaft N, carryingthe lever B, is hung, are adjustable on the fixed frame P, and theroller a is arranged to revolve in a carrier, Q, which is adapted to aOn either side of the recess f is a surface,

slot in the short arm b of the lever B.

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the roller a and standards MImust result in an alteration in themovement of the guidebar of the knitting-frame. t

rEhe adjustment of the standards M and roller a should bear such arelation to each other that the roller a Will be directly over thecenter of the drum H, in order to insure its solid bearing upon thesame.

The drum is constructed, in the present instance, for the reception ofthree patternchains, a similar number of levers, B, being also employedin practice, although only one is shown in the drawing, and any oneormore of the three chains can be made to control the guide-bars.

xIt will be evident, however, that more or ylessy than three chains maybe employed, and

that the ,more chains there are, the greater Willvbe the'capacity of theframe for producing a variety of patterns.

AI claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the pattern-chain with alever, B, and adjustable yoke A, attached to the guidebar of aknitting-frame.

2. The combination of the drum H, the pattern-chain, and adjustablestandards M, carrying the lever B. v

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH sIBSON.

Witnesses: l

l HENRY Ho'WSoN, Jr.,

1 HARRY SMITH.A

